My experience with my son, lead me to classify the signs of Autism into two categories. Because when my son started to behave differently and his cognitive skills deteriorated, the doctor didn't agree with me that my son has something wrong with him. They just said, "there is nothing wrong with your son, you are just worried for no reason ".  The only things I requested from this doctor are more examination and investigation. But the answer was "not necessary " . one year later, my son was diagnosed with autism developmental delays and an eating disorder.

for this reason, I want to give parents as much as possible information,   that helps them to notice and intervene as quickly as possible  :

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Scientific sign 

According to the CDC, kids with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), usually have difficulties with social communication and interaction and restricted or repetitive behaviours or interests. Additionally, learning, moving and paying attention can be very problematic for kids with ASD. Although, we have to keep in mind that some of these characteristics could be found in typical kids but for kids with ASD, these characteristics make these tasks very challenging. 

As reported by the CDC website, other characteristics we should pay attention to are related to kids with ASD. these might include delayed cognitive or language skills.

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Parent's signs (these signs I noticed by my son before his diagnostic )

these are the major signs that parents should pay attention to them and follow up with a professional.

Eye contact 

Kids with autism avoid eye contact, they always look around or close their eyes. Because it makes them feel overwhelmed and anxious looking directly at a person. For this reason, they try to avoid any eye contact even with their parents, siblings, family and stranger. In my son's case, he avoided contact with everybody except me, and I heard some mothers had the same experience but unfortunately I can't generalize this because I don't have enough data and information about it. 

Wandering 

usually, kids with autism, turn around with no purpose, meaning they just walk around the room in a circle or they go up the room and go down or wander in the house without playing with toys or touching any objects. My son use to turn around in his room and the kitchen with no attention to play or to be curious around the house. I have to get his attention to involve him in any activity or just get him to sit down and try to interact with him with a toy or book. But I learned later that, when kids with autism wander in the house or a new place, they are discovering the place and get familiar with it.

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( In my future blogs I will talk about how we helped our son to get more interested to play with toys and get him more busy and curious instead of just wandering and not getting involved in any activity ).

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Not responding to their name

when they are babies you don't notice until they turn 1 year old and when you call their names they don't respond. It's like they don't recognize their name anymore.

my son he was responding to his name when he was a baby, but once he turned one year old, his name became stronger to him, I will call his name, try to look into his eye and he will just walk away.

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Cover their ears 

Some people will say (" all kids cover their ears because they are scared or sound loud"). Yes, it's correct. But kids with autism cover their ears for everything, not just because they are scared or the sound is loud, but for anxiety for fear of a place never visited before or they see not familiar face or family friend visiting the house and never met before, or changing the way you usually park the car with or even the parking spot at the supermarket. 

to add to that, sometimes the sounds are very painful. An autistic person Can be very sensitive and see and hear things differently than a typical person. 

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Speech delay 

once of the important sign of autism is speech delay which is known to parents as "nonverbal ". When my son was a baby he was making sounds and I didn't pay any attention until he turned one year old and he stopped evening making sounds. 

he holds my hand for requests or uses other methods like crying, or screaming to express himself and tries in his way to help me figure out his needs. it's very difficult and frustrating for both the parents and the child that, he can't express himself and the parents can't understand their kid. 

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Isolated 

This is the most common and known sign to parents regarding kids with autism, they tend to be more isolated and keep their distance from others. It's not because they don't like to be around people. Is just not easy for them to understand our social world, and codes and it's not obvious and easygoing to them like a typical child. 

They are very sensitive and they have very strong feelings. Unfortunately, they don't know how to use the specific social code to express themselves or demonstrate their feeling or empathy as we do. Usually, people in general classify them as inconsiderate or apathetic. 

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However, there are other signs I didn't mention in my classifications, which you could easily find on the  CDC website.

In my journey with autism, I learned that each child has different signs, needs, and challenges and reacts to therapy and plans differently. What works for one kid doesn't mean it will work for your kid. But one thing sure I learn and has been a big help to me is the connection with my son, led me to determining his needs, fears,  likes as well as capabilities,  gave me the possibility to make a plan with the tools I have that match my son's needs. 

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